Doomsday Wonderland

It was only when dusk began to roll in that Lin Sanjiu gave up and let out a dejected sigh.

One after another, the street lights floated into the sky and vanished into the horizon, not to rise again until night fell. The colors of the sunrise were diffused across the sky, painting the cloud and the massive aircraft a rosy color. Not long after, the aircraft would come to life and continue their journey to their respective destinations. Looking at the street that was gradually waking up, Lin Sanji rubbed her shins. Her muscles were screaming, and she could not tell if her eyes or her legs were sorer.

In order to figure out Septimus’ walking pattern, she had repeated the path they walked through yesterday night again and again. However, it did not take long for her to realize that it was practically impossible to deduce Luther’s location this way.

The reason was simple. After she had drawn up a simple map, she found out that the last location she saw Septimus before he disappeared was still within his walking pattern.

“Could he have disappeared not because he exceeded the distance restriction but because he chose to return to Luther by his own will?”

Lin Sanjiu had been thinking about this probability for a long time.

“I don’t think so,” Mrs. Manas countered, “Considering everything he said, only a personality that has achieved perfect stage has the freedom to return to the main body by their own will. Do you still remember that the first day he arrived in the Heaven Underworld, he deliberately walked for a long time just to return to Luther? If he can return to Luther voluntarily, there’d be no need for him to do that.”

“You have a point,” Lin Sanjiu said, “And he seemed to genuinely bear a great hatred against Marcie.”

Besides, when she recounted the days in Hyperthermal Hell, Marcie never seemed to have ever returned to Luther by her own will.

The situation became even more confusing.

Lin Sanjiu stared at the hand-drawn map which seemed like an afterthought and fell silent. She could not comprehend how Septimus had disappeared even though he was still within the safe distance. Besides, the area they covered yesterday night was too small. She remembered that Marcie’s radius of action had been much larger than this.

“There’s one more explanation: they keep changing Luther’s location,” said Lin Sanjiu as she could feel the warmth of the sunlight gradually crawling up her back.

“Well, you might be right. If that’s how things turn out, at least, we have solved one of the mysteries.”

“What do you mean?”

“Septimus didn’t talk about what happened after he came out from the darkroom. Logically speaking, he could’ve more or less guessed Luther’s location once he stepped out from the room. But he said he doesn’t know anything. If that was a lie, then it’s too fake. However, it would be an entirely different case if Luther has been moving constantly. If Septimus comes out from a different location every time, then it makes sense if he doesn’t know where the other personalities had hidden Luther.”

‘A moving object. This is gonna be tough.’

Lin Sanjiu sighed deeply. She had only one wish when she first came to the Heaven Underworld: to gather all her friends and provide them with a safe haven to stay.

Everything seemed to be on the right track in the beginning, but right now, starting with Yu Yuan and now Luther, things were slowly getting out of hand. Besides, she could not locate all her other friends as well. Lin Sanjiu looked up into the sky. Even antagonism was a kind of relationship that required the interaction of two different individuals. However, the endless apocalypse had cut off all her connections to people and pushed all her friends or enemies further and further away from her. She felt she was like a kite fluttering over a sea with its string cut. There was nothing for her to anchor on and she could not do anything aside from sway along with the current.

The sun on her back was warm, but it could not heat up the loneliness that was rooted deep in her heart.

After she sat basking under the sun for a while, Lin Sanjiu decided to chuck away all the sadness. It was something that would bring her nothing and only wear her down. She stood up and dusted her clothes. A sarcastic smile hopped on the corner of her lips as she said, “I can make friends in desolated ruins, but I felt lonely in a prosperous rebuilt human society that is full of all kinds of humans. It’s ironic, don’t you think? Shouldn’t humans be social animals?”

There were no other creatures in this universe that were more ugly and loathsome than humans. Humans would always be wary of each other and never hesitate to swing swords against their own brethren when their benefit was in jeopardy. This was something that had not changed even though the human race had faced the destructive force of the apocalypse.

There were still another six hours until her 24-hour-crisis was up. For her own safety, she had avoided all the crowded places and taken rest in a ruin that was colonized by vines and grass.

The traces of the last human society had long been eroded by natural forces, and the areas rebuilt by posthumans were actually very small compared to the size of the entire planet. This was because they lacked a very crucial and most valuable resource—time.

She only needed to stay here for the next six hours. With that thought in mind, Lin Sanjiu leaned against a broken wall and stared into the distance.

She must return to Mid Mountsburg in the afternoon. After all, amongst the twelve personalities, Bliss was the only one whose location she was certain of. Other than that, she had to go back to check on Yu Yuan, and she also decided to get Bliss to share Luther’s location.

The ruins were quiet.

Maybe it was because of the sun, maybe it was because her crisis was almost over, or maybe it was because she finally solved a small part of the mystery that had been bugging her the whole time. Regardless of the reason, Lin Sanjiu’s eyelids began to droop.

“How long have I been staying awake? Two or three days?” She could not remember it very clearly. “Talking to Septimus is far more exhausting than everything I’ve done in the past.”

She swore she just slipped into slumber for a second.

When she forced her heavy eyelids open, the sun was still high in the sky. The grass continued to sway in a wavy motion along with the wind.

Lin Sanjiu could not remember when she leaned against the wall. Her brain felt like it was being hammered by several sledgehammers. The lassitude that had been building up began to do its trick. Her veins were throbbing and she just wanted to sleep. Then, all of a sudden, she froze because she heard something.

Something was breathing on top of her. That was the first thought that came into her mind. Whatever the creature was, he, she or it was pulling her hair.

Then, a hissing rang out overhead. It sounded just like a monstrous python was hissing next to her.